DESIGN AND SUPPLY OF A NEW RECYCLE GAS HEATER

XRG provided crucial engineering expertise in the scale-up of a client’s unique patented gasification process for its first full-scale commercial implementation at a greenfield waste-to-energy plant in Oregon.

The Problem: The customer had a patented process that was designed to convert biomass into syngas that will be further converted into high-quality renewable liquid fuels. This process forms the heart of a new biorefinery that will convert 136,000 tons/year of waste woody biomass into 15.1 million gallons/year of renewable fuels for the civil aviation industry. Early in the engineering of this first full scale system, they encountered challenges with supplying the necessary heat to drive the pyrolysis reaction.

The Solution: XRG developed a novel method to transfer the heat for pyrolysis into the biomass feedstock while achieving the required residence time and temperature uniformity in the reactor vessel. A combination of external heating and a heated recycle of the process stream was required to successfully achieve the heat transfer needed for pyrolyzing of the biomass feedstock. XRG performed steady-state and transient CFD models to optimize the reactor geometry, the heat transfer into the biomass feedstock particles, and the overall material temperature uniformity of the high-alloy reactor vessel.

This highly customized system, including the design and supply of an 81 MMBtu/h vertical cylindrical recycle gas heater and the detailed engineering analysis of the biomass pyrolysis system, is a testament to our specialized competencies.

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XRG Technologies
1855 E 15th Street
Tulsa, OK 74104
info@xrgtechnologies.com
+1 918-201-2656

          

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ERWIN PLATVOET
As CTO of XRG, Erwin is a true innovator, whose career spans more than three decades in heat transfer and combustion industries. Erwin is a graduate of Twente University in the Netherlands with a MS in Chemical Engineering. Erwin has served the industry around the globe in a variety of roles including Research and Development Engineer, Cracking Furnace Specialist, and Director of Engineering, and now CTO. Erwin holds eight patents in fired heat transfer and emissions control technology, has published numerous papers, and co-authored the John Zink Combustion handbook and Industrial Combustion Testing book. Erwin has been an active member of the API 560 and API 535 subcommittees and taken an active role in revising these standards.
BAILEY HENDRIX
Bailey graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Upon graduation, she joined the private sector as an Applications Engineer in Tulsa, OK at a local combustion company where she managed the sales activities for the process burner refining market. She quickly accelerated her career, becoming the Refining Account Manager responsible for all business development and sales of process burners in North and South America. Her strong leadership skills and interpersonal qualities led her to a position as the Western Hemisphere Sales Director for the process burner business, leading a group of sales engineers in the areas of new equipment, retrofits and burner management systems. Her financial and commercial acumen drives the success of XRG Technologies’ business development.
ALLEN BURRIS
Allen’s background includes 10 years of experience in designing and selling process burners. Allen is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and is a licensed professional mechanical engineer in the State of Oklahoma. His knowledge and superior customer focus led him to a career change to process design, custom-engineered fired heater sales, and associated sub-systems for the petrochemical, refining and NGL industries. With more than two decades of experience in the combustion and fired heater industry, Allen has what it takes to overcome challenges associated with complex projects and possesses.
TIM WEBSTER
With over 25 years of experience in the combustion industry, Tim brings a wealth of industry experience and technical expertise to XRG. Tim graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from San Jose State University and received a Master of Engineering from the University of Wisconsin. Tim began his career engineering custom combustion systems for a wide range of applications including boilers, heaters, furnaces, kilns, and incinerators. Tim is a licensed professional mechanical engineer in the states of California, Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, has authored numerous articles and papers, and has co-authored several combustion handbooks.
matt martin
As the Lead Scientist at XRG, Matt has over 30 years of experience in the combustion industry. He specializes in CFD of fired equipment, including UOP platforming heaters, burners in process heaters, thermal oxidizers and flares with over 300 simulations of installed, field-proven equipment. Matt received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics from the University of Tulsa. He has written numerous publications, is listed as inventor or co-inventor on 27 patents and was awarded the title of Honeywell Fellow in 2011 for technical excellence and leadership.
gina briggs
Gina is a native Oklahoman and attended the University of Tulsa, graduating with a BSBA in Accounting. She is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant. Gina began her career with the Tulsa office of Deloitte Haskins and Sells, providing audit and tax services. Since leaving Deloitte, she has held CFO positions with privately held companies in the manufacturing, construction and distribution industries. In 2013, she began a consulting practice providing contract CFO services to companies, one of which was XRG and joined XRG as CFO in 2019. Gina has always enjoyed working in the small business arena, helping business owners to profitably grow and manage their businesses.